“A newspaper delivery person was robbed at knife point this morning outside a 7-Eleven, police said. The robbery occurred at 3:25 a.m. in front of the store at 800 W. 17th St., near Flower Street, said Santa Ana police Cmdr. Stephen Colon,” according to the O.C. Register.
This is what, the third robbery at this unfortunate 7 Eleven in the past two months?
As reported last time, this store is less than a mile from the homes of Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez. Didn’t they tell us this year in their campaign mailers that Santa Ana is “one of the safest cities in Orange County?”
A few hours after this incident, another man turned up stabbed at a Santa Ana hotel. The “man went to the Palm Motel at 2223 S. Main St. around 10:30 a.m. after he was stabbed and robbed of his cell phone at another location,” according to the O.C. Register.
Something tells me these won’t be the last violent acts in Santa Ana this year. It could be a long, bloody night. Have a Happy New Year – and don’t forget to lock your doors.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that in Santa Ana, the number of homicides rose, but overall, violent and property crimes went down nearly 10% in 2008.
We need change
NOW
Anon 1,
Most of the LA Times reported decrease is purely due to residents not reporting crime.
The residents say they do not report violent and property crime because there is no response from PD and intimidation from the criminals with no sense of protection from law enforcement.
Real or not , this is the perception and the result responsible for most, if not all, of the decline the LA Times is reporting.
In addition, graffiti – which is really vandalism and estimated in the tens of millions of dollars in damage yearly – is not reported in Santa Ana’s crime statistics. Graffiti should be handled for what it is – “VANDALISM”.
In effect the crime statistics are cooked to support the political message and to justify the relative unjustifiable high difference in budget % allocated to Santa Ana’s PD compared to other OC cities (political IE support for incumbents).
Doctor,
I concur with your assessment. A few months back I called SAPD to report a property crime. I waited almost two hours for an officer to show up after the dispatch told me they would be there in about twenty minutes. When they finally showed up, a fresh rookie took my statement and have yet to receive any kind of acknowledgment that the report was ever filed.
Just another reason for the Chief to get the boot!
Dr. Lomeli,
Oh really? I think you should report that to the Los Angeles Times. If they’ve been duped, they would want to expose the city for “cooking the books”, right?
Anon #6,
The LA Times needs to go to the residents like CQT96 to get the true story and not necessarily me.
I can direct them to those affected if they need direction. Reporting from one individual(like me)is ineffective and would not be a credible strong story for them to be interested in reporting.
Why not include Vandalism(graffiti) in Santa Ana’s crime stats. if it is not to distort Santa Ana’s crime statistics for the reasons mentioned previously.
A 7 eleven robbery will bring in local and federal law enforcement from a hundred dollar loss.
Vandalism (graffiti)is producing a loss of tens of millions of dollars yearly to private and public entities. Proper enforcement is lacking relative to the 7 eleven crime mentioned above.
What happens is that vandalism (graffiti)is not included in Santa Ana’s crime statistics and is used for political manipulation.
CQT96′s experience, occurring more in some neighborhoods than others, produces under reporting of crimes which then is also used for political manipulation.
“I can direct them to those affected if they need direction.”
Go for it dude!
And another thing;
If crimes in 2008 were under-reported, and also presumably in 2007, 2006, 2005, etc, then if violent crime went down in 2008 nearly 10%, isn’t that still a drop in crime, even if it includes the under-reported ones?
Yes.
Oh my God, these citizens are living in war zones and we argue about statistics? Crimes like this stabbing are Terrorism pure and simple, its not a family argument, a robbery, revenge, or accident. This is a job for homeland security.
When will groups that seek to intimidate their neighbors be declared criminal organizations and their members and sympathizers deemed terrorists and regardless of their country of origin have them deported to a country where terrorism is supported. Lets start shipping these kids and their families off to Iran or North Korea and see how that changes things.
A drop in rime can also be due to a reclassification of the crimes by the police department itself. For example a felony assault can be charged as a misdemeanor assault or even a disorderly conduct.
The real problem lies with the economy. The loss of jobs, 3 years of sky high gas prices, rents increasing due to higher demand by forelcosed homeowners etc is putting a major strain in just about every household.
Stress levels are increasing beyond manageable levels and this results in violent crimes that would not otherwise occur in times of prosperity.
Many crimes go unreported because they are crimes committed by family members on family members. Management in police departments manipulate the statistics by reclassifying crimes to reduce the number of actual serious crimes to more non-serious violations.
I don’t think the LA Times is getting the entire story and neither are the citizens.
Economies without a large middle class nurture and provides negative social behavior.
This is also manifested within communities void of a strong middle class.
This is why it is of outmost importance to have leadership at the local and global level that is 100% committed in the economic development of it’s constituents. Politicians create this problem. The most effective solution is to elect non politicians at the local level.
A small group with all the wealth, from neighborhoods to the national level, will produce third world conditions and the resulting social behavior.
The negative social behavior is not racial , it is based on the economic health of communities.
We in this country need to develop our most precious natural resource – OUR YOUTH.
Neglect in doing so based on racial and cultural phobias will destroy healthy communities and so our society.